I used an inexpensive pair of Mogami cables for a while, and they always worked fine for me - it just never occurred to me that cables make much of a difference. I also didn't have a home system capable of hearing the differences between inexpensive and higher end cables. Some people swear by high-end cables, others don't - I say judge for yourself.

Personally, I think there's a difference, but the real question in my mind is the diminishing returns. I run active cables now so don't need regular mic cables, but I must say I'm very happy with my MarkerTek interconnect cables between my mics and preamp for recording and new home stereo gear for playback. If I bought mic cables all over again, I'd go with the MarkerTek-built Canare's below - great performance at a reasonable price point.

Mic Cables

Some commonly used cabling manufacturers/retailers:

Mogami (http://www.mogami.com)Inexpensive, I was always happy with mine, but for about the same price you can get the MarkerTek-built Canare's and have a really nice set of mic cables at low cost.

Audio Magic (http://www.audio-magic.com)They have several different lines of mic cables. No real firsthand experience, but some folks like 'em.